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Vitamins at 2 months?

Hello all,

LO had 2-month check-up today. Everything's great - very good weight gain and no health issues. The pediatrician told me to start him on vitamins, apparently the practice's recommendation for all breastfed babies.

I already checked kellymom, Dr. Sears, and Jay Gordon to see what they had to say on the topic, and I'd love to hear what the moms here have to add.

Re: Vitamins at 2 months?

Our pediatrician had us start Vitamin D drops right from the start. I just add them to an oz of breastmilk when he is with his sitter during the week. I checked the CDC website and it is recommended for exclusive breast fed babied to get Vitamin D drops. Hope this helps.

Re: Vitamins at 2 months?

My DS started on a multivitamin that he is still on around 6 weeks. My DD1 & DD2 started on poly-vi-sol around 4-6 weeks. They will be switching to the same multivitamin my son takes at their next appointment (7 months)

Full time working Mom to 3, DH is my hero as a SAHD:
DS July'09, nursed for 12 weeks
DD1 & DD2 April'11, tandem nursed for 16 months

Re: Vitamins at 2 months?

Thank you all! I guess I was concerned about the possibility of this leading to stomach issues... any experience with the vitamins leading to constipation, throughout infancy and/or the toddler years? Maybe there's no connection but I'd be curious to hear whether or not there is any relation!

Re: Vitamins at 2 months?

I was about to post this when I saw your last query. Iron supplements can certainly cause intestinal issues. This is discussed in the new Womanly Art of Breastfeeding (see below.) IS your doctor recommending a multi vitamin or just vitamin D? If a multi, I am curious why. There is evidence that exclusively breastfed babies are generally low in Vitamin D, as is the entire population. But breastmilk contains all the other nutrients a baby needs, barring an unusual situation. SOME breastfed babies have low iron issues after the first 6 months, but not usually before that.

If, after researching the subject, you decide you want to supplement with "Vitamin" D, there are products that give the recommended dose in a single drop, which are obviously easier to give than larger amounts if a baby is fully breastfed (no bottles.) Also these only contain Vit. D, so you are not giving unnecesary supplements with it.

This subject of vitamin supplements for breastfed babies is discussed at some length in The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, 8th edition, (2010) pages 158-160. You don’t have to buy it (although I recommend it, it costs less than $20.00) but you can just read that part in the bookstore or borrow it from your public library. This is a very interesting subject, there are new studies and recommendations all the time, and there are lots of conflicting opinions. I saw two doctors-both breastfeeding supportive and knowledgeable-have a little argument about this at a breastfeeding conference two years ago. (One thought the new AAP Vit. D recommendations were valid, the other did not.) It sure livened up the proceedings! Anyway, one thing I think about is that breastmilk is digested and the nutrients therein are absorbed far more effectively than from either formula or vitamin supplements. So (imo) the warnings about ‘low levels’ of this or that vitamin in breastmilk compared to formula are somewhat misleading-there should be somewhat lower levels because the nutrient amount present in breastmilk will absorb so much better. And formula has the higher levels simply because the (more difficult to absorb) supplement has already been added into the formula, not because formula is somehow nutritionally superior. This does not mean breastfed babies don’t ever need supplements. I personally think that generally there is a pretty good case for Vitamin D supplementation. But we have to remember it is a general recommendation for the entire population. And our levels (and our babies levels) of Vitamin D is going to vary, according to skin pigmentation, sun exposure, diet, all kinds of things. So whether supplementation is NEEDED is still going to depend on the individual baby and mother.

Personally I did not give my babies supplements. My kids were born before the general recommendation from the AAP for Vitamin D supplementation started (that only started in 2008) so I never even considered it when they were very young. My youngest was very ‘late’ in starting solids, and a blood test showed he had slightly low levels of iron at about 9 months and we tried to give him supplements, but he just spit most of it back up. His iron was back to normal levels a month later, I have no idea why. My kids are 5 & 7 now, healthy as can be, and I just feed them as healthy & varied a diet as possible and, for Vitamin D, I get them out in the sun a lot and only use sunscreen if they are having lots of exposure over a longer time. But how to handle this is going to be very individual to each family and depend on many factors.

Re: Vitamins at 2 months?

That was quite helpful; I appreciate your having taken the time to go into detail.

The pediatrician did recommend a multi-vitamin, not just Vitamin D. The only explanation given was that it is the norm for breastfed babies. After some research and the comments here, I think for now I'll rely on Mother Nature to provide for my LO. I drink milk fortified with Vitamin D and realized that additionally, my own vitamins provide 100% of the RDA of Vit D for nursing moms. Add a reasonable amount of time in the sun for my little guy, and hopefully we'll be okay.

I was especially interested to learn that the AAP only began its Vit D recommendation in 2008... that leaves a whole lot of years sans supplements and I think many of us have done just fine! Should the need arise, I'm glad to know about the single drop dose.